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Easiest languages to listen to? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Aquila Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5262 days ago 104 posts - 128 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: French | Message 17 of 26 27 July 2015 at 7:38pm | IP Logged |
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Spoken French is definitely harder to understand, compared with other languages. I study French for about 5
years now, and I still have much difficulties with comprehension of the spoken language at normal speed. Someone said to me that if you learn french, you learn two languages: the spoken and the written language and that's exactly what my experience is. I think that it's not just the liaison what makes it difficult, but also the melody and intonation of french which is very different from other languages. I studied a little bit of Spanish and when I went to Spain a few years ago, I had the impression to comprehend quite something of wat they said to me. I couldn't exactly hear all the words they were saying, because I learned only a few sentences, but some vocabulary is very similar to French and the language sounds just a lot clearer: it was easier to distinguish the words a already knew. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| rodrigoau Triglot Newbie Australia Joined 3415 days ago 19 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Macedonian*, English, Spanish Studies: Italian, Turkish | Message 18 of 26 15 August 2015 at 3:42pm | IP Logged |
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Spanish can be extremely difficult as well. It depends on the dialect, but also the
level of education of the person that speaks. Regardless, everyday spoken Spanish is very, very different from the Spanish in the news or that spoken in the majority of TV series produced in Spanish. I'm talking strictly about pronunciation here, not vocabulary (or register). This is true for all countries and very much the case in Spain. A very recent example is the Cuban minister for foreign affairs talking yesterday on the press conference regarding reopening of the US embassy. It was in all news. The way he pronounced was almost school Spanish and extremely easy to understand. I've never been to Cuba (I'd like to go) but I know for a fact NO ONE speaks (pronounces) like that in Cuba in everyday life. NO ONE. Cubans can be extremely hard to understand generally speaking. Of course, you may think formal language is easier to understand in any case, but I repeat it's not about that that I'm talking here (vocabulary, jargon or register). It's about pronunciation. Formal Spanish is very, very different from informal Spanish in terms of how it is pronounced and this is universally true for the language. A while ago I did an exercise where I identified - I can't remember the correct number but I think - up to 11 sounds (consonants) that exist in Macedonian but not in Spanish. Now that's a BIG number. On the other hand, I could identify only ONE sound that exists in Spanish but not in Macedonian. Now imagine what that means for the average language learner when learning to listen to Macedonian or Spanish. There is also the problem of sounds that blur into each other in Spanish, and sounds that do not sound clear at all when you try to identify them - the typical example is how b and v are indistinguishable and strangely enough, in many dialects Land R. There is also the problem of omission of 's' in many situations. Trust me when I say, after learning Spanish for almost 10 years - the language can be extremely hard to listen to. I would think even more than French. Edited by rodrigoau on 15 August 2015 at 3:55pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| phonology Groupie Peru Joined 3493 days ago 40 posts - 48 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 19 of 26 10 October 2015 at 9:00am | IP Logged |
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the easiest to hear is Spanish, easy phonemes. Edited by phonology on 10 October 2015 at 9:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| cords05 Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3121 days ago 15 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English, Swedish* Studies: Russian | Message 20 of 26 11 October 2015 at 1:35pm | IP Logged |
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For French (which I am not particularly good at) I have always thought that the Swiss French are MUCH easier to understand than any other French dialects. Particularly rural people. I can't put my finger on why, I just find that I understand almost everything they say. In Paris on the other hand I just feel totally intimidated by fast and slurry speech with lots of slang and unfamiliar expressions. In Switzerland you often hear native German speakers speak in French and those are excellent for understanding as well. Can't really say why.
For Russian, I don't really think it matters much - it sounds the same almost everywhere. Perhaps in bilingual areas of the ex USSR people are more used to "simplifying" their language for non-native speakers. I came across that in Latvia a few times: People who spotted me as a non-native speaker and switched over to "easy" Russian which was helpful for me at the time. Spanish, I think Southern Spanish accent is easier than super fast Madrid Spanish. With my native language - Swedish - I should imagine that the people from the far North are the easiest to understand, for foreigners, since they speak a lot slower than other parts of the countries. But their grammar is sometimes a bit bad. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Peetpeet Diglot Newbie CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3067 days ago 9 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 21 of 26 28 November 2015 at 3:34am | IP Logged |
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Maybe it's because I learned through mostly listening, but I find french much easier to
listen to and speak than to read. Though jokes usually go over my head. Written French almost seems foreign to spoken French. There are a few tenses that are different, and it's more rigid, I find. Thus, I struggle with reading and writing french, but speaking is much easier (for me). Maybe you will find it is the opposite. Edited by Peetpeet on 28 November 2015 at 3:36am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4225 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 22 of 26 01 December 2015 at 8:22pm | IP Logged |
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Chinese Mandarin tends to be problematic because you have half-dozen words & phrases that sound similar except for the intonation. And then different regions of the China have their regional accents. And you have the distinction between the variations spoken in Taiwan and Singapore and different parts of China. Besides learning the many characters, the grammar rules are more straightforward than most Western languages.
Found a video recently of a British national (Chris Parker) who lives between Beijing and England speak Mandarin on Chinese TV: Chris speaking fluent Chinese on national TV When it comes to pronunciation, the Cantonese dialect spoken in Hong Kong, Macao and the neighboring Guangdong province in China with 9 different tones tends to be very hard to pronounce. Again you have many words that sound similar except for the intonation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4449 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 23 of 26 10 December 2015 at 9:39pm | IP Logged |
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I found spoken Swedish, Portuguese and Hindi easy.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6378 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 24 of 26 11 December 2015 at 3:32pm | IP Logged |
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European or Brazilian Portuguese? Or both? :)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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